Passport renewal complaint

desperateforhelp22

I am in urgent need of help informing what options I have to get HMPO process my child’s passport. 

The passport renewal was sent through Post Office check and send on the 4th May, yet HMPO claim it was only received on the 17th May which is wrong. 

I have been informed by friends and colleagues that their digital passport renewals have been processed within a fortnight and submitted many weeks after my application. It appears HMPO are prioritising digital applications which is unfair.

HMPO are only sending default update responses which are wholly unhelpful. Even when I sent a complaint I received a default response. 

Does anyone know what can I do to get attention on my case?

smudge56

If you are travelling with 14 days you can upgrade your application - send an email  with a copy of your proof of travel to whatever office has your application -eg if its in Durham - durhamupgradeteam@hmpo.gov.uk. Put your date of travel in the subject line.  You will not get a phone call until 48 hours before you travel and it will be from a withheld number so don't expect anything sooner.
Unless its been in the office for over 10 weeks you will have to pay the upgrade fee.  Th pO check and send doesn't make the process any quicker - you just pay for them to type in your name and address and send off your old passport (all of which you could have done for free)

TELLIT01

As with many Government departments, all passport applications may go to a central 'post room' and then be forwarded to the relevant office for processing.  Tracking information will show the arrival date at the 'post room' not at the processing office.  The date of the 17th may well be the first time the application was touched in the processing office.

Was this a first passport?  If so, they seem to be taking far longer than renewals.  My niece had her renewal done in 2 weeks.  The passport for her step-brother's daughter took nearly 3 months.

smudge56

When you apply online you are given an address to send the documents to.  These are document handling units and not the actual passport office.  The documents are scanned on and that's when you get the text that they have received your documents.   It may take a few weeks for the documents to be scanned on as there is only a certain number of applications that can be scanned onto the system at the one time.  This is why you will get texts reminding you to send your documents,  These are automatic messages - it doesn't mean that your documents haven't reached there or they are lost - its just they have not been scanned on yet. These applications are examined online and usually processed quickly - the reason why some people are getting their passports before others.  If the application cannot be examined by the online system it gets transferred off the online system and the documents are sent to one of the actual passport offices to be examined manually.  

BenY

smudge56 said:

If you are travelling with 14 days you can upgrade your application - send an email  with a copy of your proof of travel to whatever office has your application

If you're really worried, buy the cheapest international flight you can find in 2 weeks time and use this when you contact them.

smudge56

The dates are checked for when you bought the ticket - if they see you have only bought the ticket recently they won't entertain you

sheramber

It was reported earlier that it took 2 weeks for passports to be scanned onto the system after being received, so your dates would fall in with that.